I lived on Orleans for many years and experienced the drunken red-necks running to the bon-fire. The people in that area are neanderthal’s and they are the same idiots that ruin Endymion, Thank God I am gone.

Cindy, we’re glad you’re gone to. I’ll refrain from correcting your grammar.

I finally made it up there for the first time last year and it was magical. I would be very sad if my first time was also my last.

Of course I meant ‘too’ not to. -but to compensate for my error, I will correct yours. 1) rednecks is not hyphenated 2) bonfire is not hyphenated 3) There shouldn’t be and apostrophe in neanderthals 4) There should be a period after Endymion

What heavenly place have you moved to, Cindy?

Damn tiny keyboard!

The NYE bonfire has been a Mid City event for decades. One neighbor told us she can’t recall a year without one, and she’s in her eighties!

I wholly encourage the city’s enforcement departments to do their very best to control the situation on New Year’s Eve. And then they can explain why they couldn’t enforce crime in the rest of the city.

The NYE bonfire on Orleans Ave. is one of my favorite New Orleans traditions. It’s absolutely magical- the kind of thing you have to see to believe.

I have friends flying in from as far as Alaska to see it with me this year!

If the city wants to focus on snuffing out a New Year’s tradition, maybe they should crack down on those who choose to fire guns into the air.

I couldn’t believe how actually safe it was out there…. there are fireworks everywhere but they are all going up. not sideways and the fire was great and the firetrucks put it out… we have so much fun there.. dont start killing New Orleans Traditions.. we will turn into Milwaukee… Our traditions and daring feats are what make New Orleans different.. Dwight Marshall

booo. the bonfire is fun.

Well, you could always just have one anyway, or smaller ones around the city. Doesn’t sound like Nola police or the City as a whole can deal with much anyway these days so it seems pretty doubtful many repercussions would occur. It could be a form of protest of sorts against City Hall in general and “neanderthal’s” naysayers. ‘Cause nothing says stick it to the man like a fun community bonfire.

Note: I am not advocating a riot, just a fun family tradition in New Orleans.

how about we convict a killer? maybe fill out a police report? hang onto some evidence that might help get some criminals off the street? get a few of those high tech cameras working? let’s focus on that, and not something high-spirited new orleanians do for fun one day a year. that can wait. that other stuff can’t.

Lizzy wrote:

“Well, you could always just have one anyway, or smaller ones around the city. Doesn’t sound like Nola police or the City as a whole can deal with much anyway these days so it seems pretty doubtful many repercussions would occur.”

Lizzy, the City can be devastating efficient if the stakes are small enough. We could teach Ph.D. courses in the proper administration of red-light cameras and Meter Maiding 101.

So let me get this straight… it has been more than 80-90 years of bonfires (without incident?) before NOPD and NOFD suddenly contemplate the dangers of fire? Instead of a crack down on random New Years Eve gun fire, or murder, their focus is a cultural, historical community tradition that has existed for anywhere between a half to a whole century? Tradition and culture are only fine when someone can profit. Since Katrina the City has tried to regulate second lines, funerals and indians, arrested musicians, harrassed mothers of murdered sons about painted sidewalks (http://davidshouse.wordpress.com/) while murders remain unsolved, and now they want to attack an historic bonfire. We’ve been too quiet! Priorities are way out of line.

I bet ALL of the Second Lines will continue no matter how many shootings & murders happen. Chocolate City! Deal with it.

Th.ere will not be enough police to stop it! The Mayor & Chief will have to rely on the crime cameras. we win hands down

After all these years of safe, spirited revelry the city decides that now is the time to move against the neighbors (instead of against the gun-toting criminals that have been newly threatening those neighbors since Katrina). Another ridiculous misprioritization of scarce resources.

This is ridiculous, and Shelly Midura is endorsing it. I can’t wait to see how the news coverage plays out when they turn the firehouses on the crowd.

If the NOPD and NOFD have nothing better to do on New Year’s Eve, then perhaps we’ve found the budget savings the city needs. Just tell them all to say home that night.

Gotta echo every other poster above - the police do such a great job keeping us safe the whole rest of the year and on New Year’s eve that they suddenly have extra time and resources to devote to this? Great job Shelly and whoever else is behind this - its gonna feel really good to throw you out of office in 2010.

[...] Do NOT start a New Year’s Eve bonfire in the neutral ground on Orleans Avenue. Unless you want var… by Kevin Allman for Gambit Daily. Damn, that’s a long title and a long URL. [...]

Light the fire and let the camera’s roll on NYE. Document the NOPD’s and NOFD’s every action at Orleans.

[...] Do NOT start a New Year’s Eve bonfire in the neutral ground on Orleans Avenue. Unless you want var… by Kevin Allman for Gambit Daily.  [...]

I look forward to the bonfire as a moment to embrace a new year and release the old year. It is a magical experience and, I have said for years, characteristic of all the things I love about Orleans.

If the forces of drudgery arrayed against us were allowed to they would suck all the fun out of this town and make it into Cincinnati or Omaha!

email Shelley and the 2 at-large councilpersons at these addresses:

AFielkow@cityofno.com,
jbclarkson@cityofno.com,
SMidura@cityofno.com

As a New Orleans tradition dating back for generations, it is our
right to contenue this unofficial New Year’s (Solstace) ritual. As
Freedom Fighters it is our duty and obligation to ensure the future of
this rite. The Bonfire has been an illegal activity which police and
city officials have allowed for years and years, much in the spirit of
Carnival. Our presence will ensure an unstoppable critical mass and
provide cover for those who will risk persecution to carry in old
Christmas trees and who will ultimatly set light to the pile. Are you
with me Brothers and Sisters???

This celebration has grown to a point that it has become dangerous. Quarter Sticks (of dynamite) were exploding within the bonfire, sending enormous plumes of hot embers high into the air. Over a two block area, many people, including a lot of kids, were igniting various types of rockets. Many were flying horizontally, at eye level, and coming from all directions. Last year my coat was burned by an errant bottle rocket. Thank goodness, no one has lost the use of their vision, as far as we know. The party has outgrown its environs. Move it to City Park’s Scout Island where bonfires were lit for years by various Boy Scout camping groups. Or to Marconi Meadows, where an inexpensive entrance fee could be collected to pay for cleanup. And while fireworks are a large part of the celebration, they must be curtailed, for there are to many children and intoxicated people in attendance to avoid serious injuries. Tone it down so it will still be around.

Police, probably, will be out there early New Year’s Eve morning to prevent people from bringing trees to be burned. Don’t be an anarhcist. Central Lock-Up is not where you want to be on New Years Day.

reasonvox– Lighting an illegal bonfire on public property is our “right”? What about the rights of the people in the neighborhood who don’t want to risk having their homes burned down. There seems to be an assumption on various blogs about this issue that the “true” New Orleanians or the “true” Mid-City residents are for this bonfire, and the rest of us need to move to Houston or wherever. It’s an assumption that makes me rather sick. No one’s “rights” are being violated by the police and fire departments enforcing a law– a law that makes sense. I love this city very much, and I don’t believe it’s my “right” to light an enormous fire in the middle of it.

[...] that, this year, the event finally became an open source of controversy, and the city announced a clampdown. For one thing, it just seems inevitable. I mean, come on: At some point a bonfire in a residential [...]